"Sure there will be issues with any car, but I'm saying the complexity and the very high cost of parts on the w124 makes them much more expensive than some other older car."

There may be something to this, but I have found that the parts supply lines for German makes in general is more open, and nondealer parts suppliers are easier to come by than for Japanese or US models. This means less when you farm out service and pay full retail, but can be of great benefit if you DIY. If I want a part for my Jeep, and no one has made a knockoff of it, I have to buy it from a dealer at wildly inflated prices. Not so for MB. Any number of 'unofficial' suppliers is happy to offer up parts with stars upon them at steep discounts. Admittedly, there are a handful of parts that are brutal if they go out.

In terms of complexity, I find that the 124 is generally easier to work on than most, partly because of the RWD layout. The lack of a good shop manual does tend to make things more complicated to service than they would otherwise would need to be.

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

I would back up the advise of shopping for the right specimen. Unlike Japanese cars I feel european imports demand much attention, to ignore them will cost dear in the end (or hasten The End). Although regular maintenance and frequent repairs can be expensive as well as bothersome, to buy and ignored vehicle can cost much in the end. Simple little things seem to turn into major headaches in time.

I used to Look for the most auto I could find for the money, thinking I was saving thousands. I enjoyed nursing the forgotten step child back to health. Well I suppose like many kids I wasn't shown much appreciation and have changed my ways. I now appreciate owning a well loved for car. It makes me want to do everything to keep it mint, not hide blemishes. If someone else could take such good care I'm inspired to as well. Most importantly it increasing my feeling of well being that I will be rewarding with reliability for the time/$ spent.

Happy shopping.

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Delsman
92' 400E, 107k
BMW 535i, 165k